Turn Off the Sound

by Anniel5/22/17
Bear and I have been talking about trying to find some venue where news is accurately reported by intelligent, well-informed people who are dedicated to facts that can be proven. I suppose that makes us old-fashioned.

Bear says he likes a nice looking female with great legs as well as any man, but when that’s all a female reporter has to offer, and exposes it all, then why bother? When that female is also vulgar and drops the F-Bomb frequently, double or triple the “why bothers.” Do men ever feel as though they are participating in group sex when they watch the female reporterettes?

Not that the males are any better. Well coifed and dressed, but still having to drop the F-Bomb, just like their sisters, and then putting out filthy innuendo about the President and his family. Their sneering laughter is at anything good and beautiful. Apparently this is what passes for thinking in their small-minded world.

And we all know they are so much better and smarter than the rest of us, for they have told us so. That’s why they need never listen to anyone else. Any other point of view gets cut off at the pass.

In this day when lies are made into ” fake news”, identifying the scheming purveyors of those lies is more crucial than ever.

I read about Mark Steyn when he worked at Fox News and became acquainted with Roger Ailes. (Whatever ill one thinks of Aile’s fall-from-grace, many others think he was a genius.) One day Ailes told Steyn that he would often turn the sound off during a program just to see if the program was visually exciting and what the silence revealed about the personalities and interactions of the participants. He said that maybe the whole line-up, seating arrangements, hair dos and clothing might need changes in order to capture the viewer’s interest, but you only saw it when the sound was off.

Have you ever turned the sound down or off and seen how the news is presented? Does everybody look boring, or, worse yet, guilty AND bored themselves? Try it, and see what you think.

Are the talking heads bland looking because they have no depth as people, because the language they use is repetitious and so politically correct that there is no newness or life left in it? Do they even genuinely care about what they say, or do they say things just for shock value? And can you and I, or any citizen who desires some semblance of truth, put our trust in a single word they say?

Here at StubbornThings the chief cook and bottle-washer’s favorite quote from Ronald Reagan is, “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.” It is becoming increasingly frightening and difficult in today’s world “to see” what it is we must see in order to live.

We need to look beyond the “sound” of things by tuning the noise out, or off completely, for a time, and exercising our eyes to really “see”.

We have felt a constant drum-beat of despair in our home for many weeks now. Our daughter has been hospitalized for two weeks with absolute idiots overseeing her care. Her older brother was there and says he has never seen worse medical ethics or behavior.

So it is difficult for me to write about the need to be upbeat and aware. But Spring and the green trees and flowers of summer are finally here, and maybe we can all learn to see the amazing beauty of nature again. To smell the hyacinths, as it were, and to be uplifted by it. I was just looking outside at what a lovely green everything is. Then the telephone rang.

I knew our daughter got sent home from the hospital yesterday, with no thought about her true health status. Now the telephone call is that the Concierge doc we decided to pay for has sent her to a different hospital since she is vomiting bright red blood and he does not want her around the idiots at the previous hospital again.

I wrote a Haiku the other day that I felt perfectly reflects how I feel at this point:

There’s so much illness
The days puddle together
And run streams of pain.

I apologize for injecting such a personal reference into your day, but I feel that because we are all beset with personal problems, the degrading presence of “fake” news adds a burden none of us need in our lives and country. From the DNC’s horrendous filth at their California Convention; to students walking out of graduation ceremonies because Vice President Pence is speaking; to the smear of Sheriff Clark for “plagiarism” of his master’s thesis when it was a formatting problem, we are faced by a flood of constant hatred.

The Lord God Himself commands us all to seek Truth, and says He is the Way, the Truth and the Light. It is by Light we see in the darkness that surrounds us. Only our Creator God can guide us and our country’s honest political leaders, and hopefully there are some, through that darkness to safety now.

I know God is not finished with this land of freedom. Pray as you’ve never prayed before. May we all be blessed. • (479 views)

26 Responses to Turn Off the Sound

I started turning the sound of the news off several years ago. We run closed caption just in case something is really happening that seems important. At first we tuned the sound on fairly often, now we seldom do. Instead I run a random playlist of Sinatra, Dorsey, Miller and assorted classics. Wagner goes well with CNN and Tchaikovsky for Fox with Rimsky-Koraskof for local news and weather. Ted Nugent “Cat Scratch Fever” on the rare occasions that MSNBC dirties our airwaves.

Instead I run a random playlist of Sinatra, Dorsey, Miller and assorted classics.

Could you please undergo a sex change or something? I want to marry you. That’s what I call innovative thinking.

By the way, I was listening to the regular local AM Sinatra radio show this Sunday. They played a duet with Dinah Shore that was rather charming. Oh, those were the days. See the USA in your Chevrolet.

Well, of the major venues, Fox was the only one with a reasonably even coverage of Trump in the recent Harvard study. The exceptionally high negative content in CNN and NBC (93% negative), CBS (91% negative), and the New York Times (87% negative) are indicators that their leftist bias has reached a critical level, and most of the others aren’t much better (the second best was the Wall Street Journal at 70% negative).

Turning off the sound wouldn’t work for me because I multitask by reading and blogging while watching TV. So I rely primarily on sound, though I will look some of the time depending on what I hear. (I do this when watching baseball as well as the news.)

First off let me send my wishes for your daughter’s full recovery, I know the pain that a sick child can bring.
As far as the news goes, I must admit I have given up on the lies a long time ago, unless we are somewhere that has the news on TV, I never watch it, I do not read like most people do. I listen to audio books and that is a slower process than what most people who actually read go through. Since time is the commodity that none of us seem to have enough of, I avoid TV news like the plague. I am building large stack of CD’s, books that I may never get to. (I am enjoying The Great Good Thing currently).
I do get caught off guard from time to time by my lack of being “up to the minute” on current events, but really, who needs to be that up on events of the rest of the world, that you cannot tune out of the lies and the madness for a while and just enjoy life.

Victor Davis Hanson has a nice article at NRO which goes into important, but largely ignored, stories as opposed to Trump smears. Of course, occasionally there really is a major story, such as the Manchester terrorist bombing. (Somehow no one is really surprised that the authorities were watching the suicide bomber — but he was able to strike anyway.)

I just saw the Chief Constable of Manchester making a statement to the public and one of the first things he said was that they would not tolerate hateful acts against any group i.e. against Muslims. What an idiot. They have not yet washed down the floors where the crime took place and he is already launching a pre-emptive attack against Brits.

Then the idiot said the person responsible for the attack was named Salman Abedi, but this had not yet been confirmed by the coroner so he would not mention it, or something to that effect.

This is the sort of attitude that enabled the gang rapes of Rotherham for 15 years. And as long as they hold that attitude they’ll face more such problems. Leftists and globalists are more concerned about the feelings of the Muslims than they are about the feelings of the victims — who, after all, are white Europeans mostly.

I told my younger brother, “You may be shocked what my first reaction to this was when I heard first reports yesterday.” (He wasn’t. He knows me). My first reaction should have been, “My prayers and thoughts go out to the family and loved ones of those affected by this terrible tragedy.”

But I’m not Donald Trump. I don’t have to lie for a living. My first reaction was “How many English have to die before they recognize that Islam is a mortal threat?”

If I could turn that into a “How many does it take…” light bulb joke I would. There is an aspect of this that is darkly comical, for you know that the politicians and others will immediately be chirping about “Diversity not being a casuality.” And the Islamists will laugh at us. And I can hardly blame them.

On the other hand, isn’t England supposed to be rife with skinheads? Are they all just posers drinking beer in pubs and looking mean but with no intention to actually keep their country safe from dangerous foreigners?

In answer to your rhetorical question. It will go on until one, or more countries dramatically over reacts. 3000 dead on 911 were not enough, and the wave of terror murders in Europe does not seem to be enough.

In order to defeat our enemies we have to admit to ourselves that this is a real war, with casualties on both sides. Right now we are fighting with one hand tied and our eyes closed.

The supporters of terrorism, Iran and N Korea and their great power allies, China and Russia need to be deathly afraid of the reaction.

For too many years the liberal meme has been, “If we over react it will only make more terrorists.” This is merely an excuse for inaction. Its time to teach these people that an aroused consensual nation with vengeance and retribution in mind is the most awesome power on earth. In the words of Arnaud Amaric, “Kill them all, let G-d sort it out”

“If we over react it will only make more terrorists.” This is merely an excuse for inaction.

Truer words were never spoken.

It seems they would rather have innocents blown up than their own failed and poisoned notions of “multiculturalism” and “diversity” be atomized. To actually have to admit that you can indeed profile a large segment of people who mean you harm, and people who aren’t white Western Christians. It would be a rejection of every lame-ass idea they have.

That’s exactly what David French argues at NRO — that we (or at least those who run the various Western countries) would rather have these occasional atrocities than do something to prevent them that would prevent them from “standing tall in Georgetown”.

If I get too “realistic” (aka “cynical”) about all this and you all think I’m going over the edge, please apply ice bucket over head as you see appropriate.

But I was just watching a video that Little Brother had on his computer. It was of some British reporter talking to a family member of someone who was injured or killed in the religion-of-peace bombing in Manchester. And this video was being highlighted on Satan’s Urinal (aka “Facebook”) because the noteworthy thing was that the reporter was tearing up.

Cynicism alert: Watch for metric tons of candle wax to be liquified in “vigils” here and there for the victims. That’s all anyone can do — express sympathy. It’s not PC to be outraged about the barbarous religion of Islam. So lots and lots of candles, vigils, bouquets of flowers, ribbons, and tears instead. If handwringing was as effective as cruise missiles, such an incident would not occur again in England or anywhere else.

An estimated 13 million Muslims lived in Europe in 2010 and the number has certainly gone up since then. Some estimates of the number of Muslims in France are close to 8 million so who really know how may Muslims live in Europe?

What can the governments of these countries do to root out Muslim terrorism? Can a country go to war with 5-10% of its population without a huge cost?

Both business and leftist interests will not let countries tighten their borders. ISIS jihadis and the wives of jihadis are allowed re-entry into virtually all of Europe without question.

This state of affairs is the result of the same thing which has been going on in the USA. The Left wishes to kill our culture and to pit new immigrants against the established population both economically and racially. The large business interests want cheap labor. Put them together and presto! you have the decline of the West.

Note that Eastern European countries haven’t allowed the Muslim invaders — and, funny thing, they don’t have any terrorist attacks. In Britain, a reporter who called for people to rise up and do something about the terrorists in their midst is being investigated. The elites care about the feelings of Muslims — but not their victims. Mark Steyn has been writing about this for years. European culture is gradually being displaced by the Muslim invasion. There’s a reason I reviewed Raspail’s Camp of the Saints here a few years ago. It keeps getting more relevant.

Reports are that the slug who murdered these people had taken to walking the streets loudly praying in Arabic. Apparently no one thought this was unusual.

The dilemma is the issue of free speech. Would you call police if a Christian were praying while walking, or a Hasidic Jew? Probably not.

However, the instances of any other faith resorting to blowing people up and just short of nil. It may be paranoia but when I see any hajib or the like, my awareness automatically goes to bright orange until they are out of sight. I know the location of the local Islamic center and the neighborhoods they tend to settle, and all are potential combat zones. Its not Vietnam, but it gets closer every day.

It’s not a free speech issue or a freedom of religion issue, Steve. Islam has proven itself to be a Nazi-like cause that one has reason to fear. That many believe the lie of “moderate Muslims” is simply another lie offered by the gatekeepers who have an agenda other than our wellbeing. All Muslims contribute to a violent and totalitarian system. Some are just more passive than others.

I would put a halt on all immigration of Muslims. We either recognize that they are an enemy or we don’t. And if I were Europe, I would forcibly expel all Muslims while I still could. But this is problematic because it is impractical to expel the real problem: European voters who keep voting in these multiculturalist creeps who then keep letting in the enemy.

Either another Hitler arises to violently opposing the enemy within or Europe becomes an Islamic continent. I don’t see any other option. And it seems pretty clear at this point that Europeans have about zero interest in their countries beyond their own present lifespan and comfy retirement.

This is why Europeans have so few children — except for the Muslim invaders themselves. They have no interest in the future (perhaps for good reason). So the children in Europe are disproportionately Muslim, which means that the alien population will grow even without further invaders.

It is actually worse than that. Overall the birth rate in Europe is about 1.3 children per woman with the replacement rate for a stable population being 2.1. The 1.3 rate includes Moslems, so the birthrate among native Europeans is probably less than one.Thus, Europe is nearly dead to Western culture. Even during the plague years of the 14th century the birth rate was higher.

It is easy to draw a possible causation between Jewish/Christian religious practice and birthrates. In countries with low church/synagogue attendance fewer children are the norm. Even among Moslems 2nd and 3rd generations are having fewer children and 4th generation matches the rest of Europe.

Like it or not, the US is the only depository of Western culture that is likely to survive this age of feuilleton.

There is something about general prosperity which causes the birthrate to decline.

The lowest birthrate I have come across is that of Singapore. A few months back I recall reading it was 1.2. That is disastrous. They keep the population growing by importing people, mainly from China these days.

For many years now, my philosophy regarding “the news” has been to use a number of different sources and then try to figure out what is actually going on. Headlines tell one very little as do 300 word articles.

It takes some time and effort to dig beneath the surface where the ore of truth might be hiding.

As to your daughter Annie, keep the faith. I know it is not always easy.

Thanks to you all for the thoughts on our daughter. She has a potential diagnosis by a new. Doc and was released from the second hospital today. But they took care of her immediate needs. So I feel somewhat better about her care now.

Bill of Rights

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.